Simon Collins

Daryl Gurney has coasted into the quarter-finals of the inaugural Unibet Melbourne Darts Masters after a dominant victory over Dave Marland at the Hisense Arena today (Friday).

Gurney, who reached the US Darts Masters final last month, secured a comprehensive 6-0 drubbing over the Australian to book his place in the last eight.

And the Northern Ireland man will now meet top seed, Gary Anderson, who defeated Justin Thompson in his first round match, in a best of 19 legs clash as play continues on Saturday.

A World Championship quarter-finalist and UK Open semi-finalist, Gurney’s rise up the rankings and emergence into a genuine contender continued as he reached the World Matchplay semi-finals in Blackpool.

Following that run, Gurney took the final place in the treble-header of PDC World Series of Darts events and is continuing his superb form ‘Down Under’.

Nicknamed ‘Superchin’, Gurney tweeted his delight at progressing in the tournament.

“Feels great to win the opening match. I play @GaryAnderson180 [sic] next. We always have great games . . . two players no games just darts.”

Gurney enjoyed one of the biggest victories of his career last July when he defeated world no. 2 Anderson at the World Matchplay Darts and he’ll be hoping to repeat those heroics again on Saturday.

The Melbourne Darts Masters, a new destination on the PDC’s World Series of Darts circuit in 2017, pits eight Oceanic qualifiers against eight leading stars of the sport as they compete across three days for the $250,000 prizemoney.